A Coruña⁩, Spain - May 15. 2025

A Coruña is a coastal city in Galicia, northwestern Spain, with a population of 250,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the province of A Coruña.  There are 17 autonomous communities in Spain.

It is built on a small peninsula that was originally an island, later connected to the mainland by a narrow stretch of land.  It is part of the "Coast of Death" (Costa da Morte), featuring 1,500 kilometers of coastline with only 300 kilometers of beaches due to the rocky terrain.

Both Spanish and Galician are spoken and the city has an Atlantic climate with summer season from mid-June through September.

The first place we visited was María Pita Square named after a local heroine who defended the city against English attacks in 1589.  When Francis Drake attacked A Coruña (intended for Santander), María Pita's husband was killed by the English. In her rage, she killed Drake's brother (the English flag bearer) and rallied the townspeople to fight, ultimately forcing Drake to retreat after only 15 days. 

The square features the Town Hall built in 1917 with the city's coat of arms (Tower of Hercules surrounded by scallop shells) and representations of Galicia's four provinces.  

Church of Saint George

Tucked away in one corner of the square is the Church of Saint George in which the first same-sex marriage in Spain occurred on June 8, 1901. Two women, Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sánchez Loriga, wanted to get married. To achieve it, Elisa had to adopt a male identity: Mario Sánchez, as listed on the marriage certificate. The marriage was performed by the Church, in the parish church of Saint George. First same-sex marriage in Spain - Wikipedia.

Elisa cut her hair short and started wearing suits to put on a masculine appearance. She adopted the name "Mario" and concocted a fake backstory for him. They claimed that Mario was Elisa's cousin who had grown up in London as an atheist. Because of that, he was reaching out to the parish priest, Father Cortiella, to be baptized.  Father Cortiella baptized Mario on May 26, 1901 (furthermore, he received first communion), and subsequently married the couple on June 8th.  The Netflix movie, Elisa & Marcela (Spanish: Elisa y Marcela) is a 2019 Spanish biographical romantic drama film directed by Isabel Coixet. Starring Natalia de Molina and Greta Fernández, the plot concerns the story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women who posed as a heterosexual couple to marry in 1901 at Church of Saint George in A Coruña, becoming the first same-sex matrimony recorded in Spain. 

The couple eventually fled to Argentina after the Spanish government demanded their extradition from Portugal. Before leaving Porto for the Americas, Marcela gave birth to a girl. After they landed in Buenos Aires, Elisa (under the alias of Maria) married Christian Jensen, a wealthy immigrant from Denmark 24 years her senior, in 1903. 

Remarkably, The marriage certificate was never annulled and the wedding, according to the Diocesan Archive, is still valid, as neither the Church nor the civil registry annulled the marriage certificates, so this is the first recorded same-sex marriage in Spain.  So, over 100 years before Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, these two women managed to outwit the Catholic Church and civil authorities. Their courage and ingenuity in the face of such oppression makes their story all the more remarkable, 

Tower of Hercules

We traveled along the coast and stopped at the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse from the 1^st century AD which is still operational. According to local legend it was built by Hercules himself after defeating King Gerión.  It sends out four flashes of light every 20 seconds, visible from over 20 nautical miles.  

Maze and view from San Pedro Hill

We next traveled to San Pedro Hill, formerly a military installation but now a beautiful park featuring a large maze and play areas for children.  It still contains four Vickers cannons from England that were installed in 1939.  Cannons were fired 17 times but never hit any ships; last shot fired in 1977.  The hilltop features beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding area.

Vickers Cannon

We returned to the bus, traveling further along the coast.  The guide provided many interesting information about the area.

• Amancio Ortega, Spain's richest man (9th richest globally), founder of Inditex Group (Zara, etc.) with fortune exceeding €125 billion, lives in the city in a distinctive house with stone lower level and glass upper level.

• Pablo Picasso lived in A Coruña from ages 9-13, made his first art exhibition here at age 15.

• A Coruña is the second most important fresh fishing port in Spain, handling over 30,000 tons of fresh fish annually.  It is also renowned for its beef and seafood including octopus, hake, crabs, lobsters, and gooseneck barnacles.

• The city has distinctive covered balconies inspired by ship construction at local shipyards, creating the nickname "Crystal City".

• The area inhabited by Celtic people (Artabrians) 2,600 years ago, with remaining Celtic village ruins nearby.

• There are three main beaches separated by terraces, but strong Atlantic currents make some areas dangerous for swimming.  We passed by a monument to two policemen who died in 2012 trying to rescue a drowning student.

A major ecological disaster from oil tanker crash led to construction of new maritime traffic control tower in 1995.    The tour concluded with lunch in a hotel near the beach.